213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and Yankees start another subway series tonight and there are so many story lines to be looking at. The first one is the one that has dominated the headlines (in respect to the Subway Series) since the beginning of the season which is that both teams have new Stadiums. However the recent similarities between these teams are also striking. Both teams are now in second place and both teams have just come off a losing series (the Mets 2-1, the Yankees got swept) against the first place team in the division. Both teams are ready to win to start off the next chapter of the Subway Series in New York.

The Mets will be going with not only one of their more reliable pitchers on the staff this season but the best pitcher in terms of his last three games and that would be Livan Hernandez. Hernandez is 5-1 on the season with a 3.88 ERA over 67.1 innings. In his last three games he has pitched 21.2 innings and has a 1.66 ERA. Last year he pitched one game against the Yankees and he struggled as he allowed 5 runs in 6 innings of work, no walks and one strikeout. Here are some stats the Yanks have on him:
     Arod 10-16, 4 2B, 3 HR
     Jeter 7-16
     Damon 2-13
     Posada 3-10
     Swisher 5-16
Its pretty clear what two batters he will have to be careful against. Also the entire staff will have to be weary Jeter who seems to always be his best when it comes to playing the Amazin's. It would be very helpful if the Mets scored runs against the Yankees to help back up Hernandez.

To do that, the Mets will have to take down Joba. He is 3-1 on the year with a 3.79 ERA over 59.1 innings and he is 2-1 over his last three games and 18.0 innings where he has a 4.00 ERA. Last year he pitched an inning against the Mets where he allowed two hits and a run. Here are the limited AB the Mets have against him:
     Reed 1-2
     Sheff 0-2
     Beltran 1-1, 3B
     Cora 0-1
     Wright 0-1
Part of the story for the Mets bats tonight is how they deal with the Coors Field of the East. This team hasn't shown much power, but Yankee Stadium plays like a softball park, so it will be interesting to see how the Mets do. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Yankees!

I know this is a Mets site but this is an interesting story. So I can pretty much guarantee that very few of you out there are Ravens fans but for the few of you that are, or the ones that follow the Ravens star Rookie quarterback, Joe Flacco. Yes Flacco mania hit the Baltimore area hard last year, and was a lot of fun to watch. Well the Orioles, in a mix of throwing a bone, making a story, and drafting a player with skills (in other words, this was NOT a throwaway pick as a favor that tends to happen in the later rounds), they drafted Joe Flacco's brother, Mike Flacco in the 31st round today and with the 926 pick. He was drafted out of Catonsville Community College and was drafted as a third basemen.

Now this would really become a story if he becomes a hidden phenom as the Flacoo brothers lead Baltimore into a tall Sports Stature and restore Baltimore's storied franchises. Yet, thats a long shot and really just a dream in writer's heaven when every sports story gets amazing twits and connections.

The Mets try to rebound after last nights tough, tough loss with today's game that features Tim Redding against Jamie Moyer (in other words, there is no shortage of film for either of these guys). Anyway this is a critical game for the Mets because taking two of three from the division leading team while being down two key players (and many others) is a great explanation point for this time of the season.

Redding is 0-2 on the year with a 6.97 ERA over 20.2 innings (four games). His last outing was very good as he went 6.0 innings allowing one run, walking 2 and striking out 2. Last year he was 3-1 against the Phillies with a 3.41 ERA over 29.0 innings, 10 BB and 12 K. Needless to say, I was surprised by these numbers. Anyway here are the Phillies stats against Redding:
     Rollins 5-32, 2B
     Howard 3-21
     Utley 8-18, 2B, 2 HR
     Feliz 5-10
     Werth 3-11
Key for the Mets pitching today is to keep Utley away from doing damage because he is really dialed in. Also prevent rallies. On the pitching side that was the real problem last night (or one could just say Sean Green).

Hitting wasn't the problem for the Mets last night, the problem was scoring. They were pretty much on the basepaths the entire night and yet only 4 runners crossed the plate. That will have to change against Moyer tonight who is 4-5 on year over 60.1 innings and a 6.27 ERA. On the year he is 0-1 against the Mets with a 13.50 ERA in 8.0 innings. Here are some Mets numbers against Moyer:
     Beltran 11-54, 3 2B
     Wright 14-35, 4 2B, 2 HR
     Sheff 13-27, 2B, 4 HR
     Church 4-16
     Tatis 4-8, 2B, HR
The Mets have power against Moyer and it would nice to see them hit him around again tonight. The Mets have handled the starting pitching pretty well this series but they need to start getting to that pen (or really last night they needed to get to the pen). Lets go Mets! Beat the Phillies!

The 2009 MLB Draft ended its second day this afternoon and the teams drafted players round 4 through 30 as almost 1000 players have been drafted to this point. Today is the day when a scout's talent is put to the test as these picks are not throw away picks and real gems can be found in these rounds and teams take risks on players with sign ability issues.  Here are the Mets draft picks today listed by their round and their overall pick after their name.

4. David Ceciliani (134)
5. Damien Magnifico (164)
6. David Buchanan (194)
7. Darin Gorski (224)
8. John Freeman (254)
9. Jeffrey Glenn (284)
10. Nick Santomauro (314)
11. Samuel Honeck (344)
12. James Ewing (374)
13. Zachary Dotson (404)
14 Ronald Harris (434)
15. Casey Schmidt (464)
16. Jeffrey Greene (494)
17. Alexander Gregory (524)
18. Cody Holiday (554)
19. Nelfi Zapata (584)
20. Joseph August (614)
21. Joseph Bonfe (644)
22. Zachary Von Tersh (674)
23. John Church (704)
24. Michael Johnson (734)
25. Josh Dunn (764)
26. John Semel (794)
27. Kurt Steinhauer (824)
28. Brian Needham (854)
29. ZeEricka Hall (884)
30. Jordan Harrison (914)

This is always exciting because somewhere in this list, last night's picks and tomorrow's picks, there is a star waiting to come out and play baseball.

The Mets and the Phillies play the second game of the series tonight as the Phillies get their turn of sending their ace to the mound, Cole Hamels who will go toe to toe with Mike Pelfrey. An interesting note that will be discussed is that both Hamels and Pelfrey are similar in that in their last two starts, they each had one good start and one terrible start.  Last night was the first night in about a month that the Mets hit more than one homer in a game.

Pelfrey is 4-2on the season with a 4.85 ERA over 59.1 innings. In his last three games he is 0-1 over 18.1 innings with a 5.40 ERA, 6 BB and 15 K. Two starts ago he was amazing with a 7.2 inning performance allowing one run and then he followed it by a terrible performance in Pittsburgh where he allowed 8 earned runs (9 total) over 3.2 innings. He has already faced the Phillies twice this year where he is 2-0 over 12.1 innings, 6 ER, 5 BB and no strikeouts. Here are some stats the Phillies have on him:
     Howard 5-14, 2B, HR
     Utley 3-15
     Victorino 4-15
     Rollins 3-12
     Werth 4-11
     Dobbs 5-10
The big difference for Pelfrey is that after his last start against the Phillies he really started to turn the corner in terms of striking out batters and really getting good demand of his stuff.

Hamels hasn't pitched against the Mets yet this year . On the season he is also 4-2 with a 4.40 ERA, 57.1 innings, 10 BB and 55 K. In his last three games he is 3-0 over 21.0 innings with a 3.43 ERA, one walk and an incredible 17 K's. Two starts ago he struggled giving up 6 runs in as many innings. In his last outing he pitched a complete game shutout against the Dodgers. Last year against the Mets he was 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA as he gave up 8 ER (10 total) over 12 innings, walked four and struck out 10. Here are some Mets stats against him:
      Church 6-20, 2B
      Beltran 5-18, 2 HR
      Wright 5-17, 2 2B, 3B, HR
      Schneider 4-12
This should be an interesting game tonight as Pelfrey and Hamels pitch a night after 7 homers were launched from Citi Field. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Phillies!

The Mets have been going through a notable power outage (which hasn't been too much of a problem since they are second in the National League in BA) but they showed some power tonight as Wright homered (breaking 100 AB without one), Beltran homered, and Church homered (into the Home Run Apple). The Phillies, not to be outdone, came back with four homers of their own. Santana wasn't the best that he could be tonight but he got the job done. Of course when you look at this game removed from both teams, it was an exciting one. The power was entertaining to watch, the Mets went up big, then the Phillies came back and tied it, then the Mets pulled ahead and then knocked in a solo run for the icing on the cake.

This was big for the Mets as they sent out a statement to the league tonight taking down the Phils as they show that they can beat good teams while being down critical parts of the team (Reyes and Delgado). Ideally they would want better starting pitching, but they lucked out with having power tonight to cover up for that.

It is very good to see Church hitting. He was such a critical part of the offense last year before he got his multiple concussions. I am not saying he is back to that form, but him hitting is good news for the Mets.

The Mets had the 72nd pick (2nd round) and the 103rd pick(3rd round) tonight and they made some interesting choices. The first one was Steven Matz out of Ward Melville High School (New York) and he is a left hand pitcher (which is always intriguing). As it is with high schoolers, it is hard to find information but after scavenging a lot of sites this is what I was able to learn. His fastball averages between 88 and 92 but has touched 94. The feeling is that he can get stronger (which makes sense because he is coming out of high school). His curveball is projected as above average and he has a changeup, but its not a very good pitch yet. This is the kicker with him though. He has a commitment to Coastal Carolina. The Mets will have to buy him out of that commitment if they want. Coastal Carolina was a reference for stats from his junior year where he struck out 36 batters in 18 innings and had a 1.04 ERA. He also had .404 batting average.

The Mets next pick was Robert Shields who played short stop at Florida Southern College. This year he hit .345 with 5 HR and 37 RBI. This is an interesting stat about him, according to the school site, he played every game he could at college, 167 games, where he batted .329, had 22 HR, and 122 RBI (which is a good number considering he played 167 games). Both of these prospects are intriguing. Shields will probably most likely sign. Matz will be tough, but he's very interesting and it would be great if does sign.

Some Links:
Florida Southern College Article About Robert Shields
Coastal Carolina about Steven Matz
NY Post on Steven Matz
Baseball Rumor Mill on Matz

With the first pick of the 2009 Draft, the Washington Nationals picked Strasburg, and really, that was not a surprise. I really “enjoyed” reading articles and watching sports writers talk about Strasburg today because all of sudden they flipped a switch overnight and the media went from overpraise about Strasburg to treating him like he was the 1500th pick in the draft. I understand where this dissenting opinion came from because that opinion has been absent for about two months.

So now the Nationals have a new challenge on their hands which is negotiating a contract to sign Strasburg, which we are all expecting will last up until the end of the deadline. The next big decision is whether he goes straight to the majors (which I still feel he shouldn't, if he plays this year it should be at least in the minors till at least September). And then of course their is the mystery of whether he pans out or not. His raw stuff though is very good and the Nationals need hope (everybody needs hope).

In the end, congrats to the Washington Nationals, good luck with your new pitcher and thank you for giving the MLB Draft this year attention that it has not recieved…well maybe ever.

The Mets open up the beginning of a tough schedule with the Phillies tonight as Johan Santana will be pitching after basically a full week of rest and he will have to deal with Happ of the Phillies who will be making his first start against the Mets tonight. One of the bigger questions going into this series is what to do with Ryan Church who hasn't seen major league pitching for a while and then when he did on Sunday, he did a good job but with the lefties the Mets will be seeing this week, what type of playing time will Church get.

Before we can even concentrate on our hitting, lets look at Santana. On the season he is 7-3 with a 2.00 ERA over 72.0 innings where he has 21 BB and a very nice 89 K. In his last three games he is 2-1 over 19.0 innings pitched and a 3.79 ERA which includes 8 BB and 22 K. In his last start against the Phillies this year he pitched 7.0 innings, allowed 2 hits, no runs, walked 3 and struck out 10. Here are some stats on how the Phillies have done against Santana carear wise:
     Ibanez 13-37, 2B, HR, 10 K
     Rollins 2-20
     Feliz 3-22
     Utley 3-20
     Werth 5-19
     Howard 6-17, 2 HR
     Victorino 1-15
The trick with the Phillies is that they are a power based team. If you make one mistake, they will jump on it and make you pay. Thats why you have to limit the walks and keep the basepaths clear because these bombs can take off at any time. Santana has had success against the Phils though and hopefully he will continue that tonight.

It would be nice for Santana to get some run support which could be tough against Happ wo is 4-0 on the season with a 2.48 ERA over 40.0 innings. His last three appearences have been starts, all three being his only starts on the year (as he now has a rotation spot). In his last three games he has pitched 18.1 innings, is 2-0, has a 2.45 EA, 5 BB and 13 K. He has seen the Mets twice this year already working 5.2 innings in relief where he has allowed 2 hits and that has been it. Last year he logged 4.2 innings against the Mets and allowed 2 ER, 4 BB and 3 K. Here are some Mets stats against him:
      Beltran 2-8, HR
      Wright 2-5, HR
      Castillo 0-2
      Tatis 0-2
      Church 0-1
      Cora 0-1
The other thing for the Mets to remember is they need to show fight against the Phillies. Lidge has blown his last two saves and has done that 6 times already this year. This means that the Phillies are a team you can come back on as long as you don't dig yourself too large of a hole. Lets keep fighting. Lets Beat the Phillies. Lets Go Mets!

On Saturday I went to National's Park to see the Mets lose to the Nationals 7-1 in about 2 hours and hit into 5 double plays. When you forget that the Mets played baseball that day, it was a very good day. I live outside of DC, and by now I am starting to get used to the transformation to the city when the Mets come to town and it is very much like what happens to Baltimore when the Red Sox or the Yankees come to town (which I am pretty used to as I used to live outside of Baltimore). Anyway I went down to the DC mall for a little bit before the game and of course it was flooded with Mets fans, which is a nice change of pace.

I have noticed that Nationals fans change their behavior when we come to town. They get a lot more obnoxious, which is probably to try to cover up Mets fans because we get extremely roudy. Another thing that never ceases to amaze me is I usually see multiple Met fans wearing Hundly jerseys and shirts. He was great for us, but thats also a really long time ago (but then again I always wear my Alfonzo jersey, so I can't talk about keeping current either).

Anyway, before the game started Dan Warthen came over to talk to a group of kids and then after he was done with them (which is always great to see and is a really classy move), he talked to some older fans and actually answered questions. Someone asked him about Billy Wagner which Warthen gave a short answer of “he'll be our second lefty” and then of course Warthen made some jokes about all of the injuries on the team and then excused himself to go talk to Maine. It was very nice that he talked to us though because he didn't need to do that. Now I don't live in New York, and when I go to Mets games I never sit in the lower bowl, so does this happen at home? It was the highlight of the day, especially considering that was the day when Emile Brown was batting second in the lineup.